New South Wales Years
Kemp arrived in Sydney with his regiment in 1795. He served in Sydney and also on Norfolk Island, which was then a settlement of New South Wales. In 1797, he was promoted to lieutenant. In November 1799, he was granted a lease of land in the centre of Sydney where he built a shop. At that time, it was common for senior military officers to be granted land to settle and farm in the colonies. Kemp prospered in the colony. As paymaster for his company and then later paymaster for the whole of the corps, he was able to use his position to trade his "wares at high prices".
Kemp returned to England on leave in 1800, and was promoted to the rank of captain in 1801. He returned to Sydney in 1802 where he married Elizabeth Riley, sister of early New South Wales merchants and pastoralists, Alexander Riley and Edward Riley and daughter of London bookseller George Riley. In the same year, he was received as a freemason in what is thought to have been the first lodge assembled in Australia.
The arrival of the French ship the Atlas in 1802 is an illustration of Kemp's attitude to his economic interests in the colony. French Captain Nicholas Baudin brought a cargo of brandy to sell. The governor, Philip King, refused to allow the cargo to be landed, probably due to the then English monopolies on the sale of goods. After various arguments with Baudin, Kemp alleged that Baudin was illegally selling the brandy on shore. The governor investigated the matter. Kemp was forced to apologise to Baudin after the governor determined that there was no evidence of the sale.
This led, in 1803, to Kemp being involved in a pamphlet war denouncing the governor. For this, Kemp was court martialled along with two other junior officers. He was saved by Major George Johnston (who was later a key player in the Rum Rebellion). Johnston ordered the arrest of John Harris, the presiding officer at Kemp's court-martial. This was for allegedly revealing the voting of two other officers in an earlier court martial. Although Harris was later exonerated, he was replaced by deputy judge advocate Richard Atkins, and Kemp was acquitted.
In 1804, Kemp was appointed second-in-command of the new settlement at Port Dalrymple, which is now the town of George Town in Tasmania. During his commander's absence, he administered the settlement, but disaffection with him grew and eventually a planned insurrection had to be averted by arresting its leaders.
Read more about this topic: Anthony Fenn Kemp
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